Effect of narghile and cigarette smoking on newborn birthweight

OBJECTIVE

To assess the effect of narghile smoking on the weight of newborns.

DESIGN

Historical retrospective cohort.

SETTING

Six major hospitals in Greater Beirut, Lebanon.

POPULATION

Consecutive singleton newborns delivered from August 2000 to August 2003.

METHODS

Obstetric and nursery charts were reviewed to obtain information about maternal and neonatal variables. Information concerning initiation of smoking, dose of smoking, smoking habits during pregnancy, and socio-demographic characteristics was collected through interviews with mothers.

MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES

Low birthweight and newborn birthweight.

RESULTS

Exclusive narghile smokers constituted 4.4% (378/8592) of women. Multiparas were significantly more likely to smoke cigarettes and narghile. Mothers smoking narghile more than once per day were at 2.4 increased odds of having low birthweight infants compared with nonsmoking mothers (OR 2.4; 95% CI 1.2-5.0) after adjusting for confounding variables. No difference was noted between women smoking narghile in the first trimester and those initiating smoking in subsequent trimesters regarding low birthweight.

CONCLUSIONS

Narghile smoking more than once per day increases the odds of low birthweight by a 2.4-fold compared with nonsmokers, although to a lesser extent than cigarette smoking.

Low socioeconomic status and neonatal outcomes in an urban population in a developing country

OBJECTIVE

To investigate the effect of low socioeconomic status indicators, specifically parental educational and occupational characteristics on neonatal health outcomes.

METHODS

Analysis of 3372 newborn infants admitted to five National Collaborative Perinatal Neonatal Network centers (1 February 2000 to 31 January 2002). Outcomes included birth weight, gestational age, admission to the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) and length of hospital stay. The independent effects of mother's education and occupation as well as father's occupation on health outcomes were assessed by means of stepwise logistic regression analysis.

RESULTS

A total of 271 (8.0%) infants were of low birth weight, 306 (9.1%) were preterm, 410 (12.2%) had NICU admissions and 240 (7.1%) were hospitalized for more than a week. After adjusting for maternal gravidity, age, smoking during pregnancy and pregnancy-related complications, parental socioeconomic characteristics had no significant impact on low birth weight or preterm birth. NICU admission and prolonged hospitalization were significantly correlated with skilled, semi-skilled and unskilled paternal occupations. Illiterate mothers had nearly 3-5 times the risk of NICU admission and prolonged hospitalization.

CONCLUSION

Both father's occupation and mother's education play an important role as determinants of neonatal morbidity characteristics.